Someone who looks an awful lot like [email protected] wrote: > I wondered if there are any Norwegion census data online where I could > assess the frequency of the Skirvin surname there. You bet - 1664-6, 1801, 1865, and some newer ones. The 1664-6 census is only male landowners and their sons, but the more recent ones are complete. You can get there (in English, even, if you prefer!) at, for instance, http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/cgi-win/wc/webcens.exe?slag=meny&kategori=1&emne=2&spraak=e6 (that needs to be all one line in your browser's address window). The interface takes a bit of getting used to, but you can search by farm name, Fylke (roughly "county"), and so on. If you want to get further back than that, the "Diplomatarium Norvegicum" has collected somewhere around 20,000 records going back to the 13th century, but these are probate & other legal records, some of which have useful genealogical information in them. Another site to check out for your name, would be "O. Rygh's Norske Gaardnavne", which has a search page you can plug your name into to see what's close or matches. It's at: http://www.dokpro.uio.no/rygh_ng/rygh_felt.html It's in Norwegian, but what you want to do is plug your name into "Gaardsnavn" (the a with the circle can be written with 2 a's when you don't have the right keyboard;) and click "S/ok" (search). Hope this helps, Dave Hinz